**ROYAL COLORSby Pink Rabbit Productions
This talented bardic duo brings us another EXCEPTIONAL story to join the already impressive body of work their keyboard has delivered. Set after the events in BETRAYAL-THE DEBT II, the story begins in a forest where Xena and Gabrielle have camped for the night on their journey back from Chin. It marks the first time since the horrific events in Britannia that the two lovers share their passion again but it is a bittersweet joining which leaves them more aware than ever of just how much has changed between them. It is an awareness they have little time to even consider before suddenly the two are trust into the middle of a desperate fight for survival as they struggle to help a young boy hunted by the very person who should want to protect him the most - a boy whose fate strangely parallels that of a child Gabrielle cannot forget - another apparent innocent whose only chance may rest in a bard with a frail exterior but the inner strength to humble gods. This is a beautifully written, carefully executed effort which presents two poignant stories at once - the suspenseful fight to try to save a child who may not be what he appears, and the even more heart-wrenching tale of two souls desperately trying to hold on to the love still binding them together even as doubts now threaten to never again let them recapture what they once had. This is the type of story you will be thinking about long after you've finished it and one I think will thoroughly involve fans regardless of their stand on the Third Season. A classic in the making that receives my HIGHEST RECOMMENDATION!! - 37 pgs., 4/16/98http://www.altfic.com/subtextfic/Xena/prp/royalcolors.htm